As Long As He Needs Me
by megbricks
Summary: Derek and Ivy come back from a night out. Derek gets physical with Ivy. Possibly the most unlikely person befriends Ivy afterwards, and tries to help her. WARNING: ABUSE
1. If It Hadn't Been For Love

**A/N: Okay so I don't really have a clue where this came from. But if anyone likes it I have an idea of where I could take it from here. **

Derek and I were walking out of the elevator and towards his condo. Well, more like I was walking and he was leaning on me struggling to get down the hallway. We had been out with Julia and Tom for a while and Derek had way too much to drink. I was being good and only had water, as to preserve my voice. Since I recently got the part of Marilyn after Karen totally chocked onstage. I actually did feel kind of bad for her.

I was actually exhausted from all the catching up I had to do. At least I still knew all of the lyrics; I just had to work on the blocking. I was so ready for bed by the time we got back home.

We got to his door; I turned to him.

"You have your key?" I asked. He fumbled through his pocket and eventually pulled out the key and managed to unlock the door. I walked in and set my purse down on the floor and slid my new heels off, which were possibly the most painful shoes I've ever worn. "Derek, I'm going to go get changed." I said and walked toward the staircase. I'd brought my bag over earlier today before we went out. I probably didn't even need to since I have so much shit over here anyway. Derek, of course, followed me up the steps. Which I know means he's not just going to let me sleep.

"Why can't you just leave that on?" he asked referring to the white sundress I had on.

"I'm not wearing this to bed" I said without turning around. I reached the top of the steps and walked into his room.

"I didn't say anything about sleeping…" He grabbed onto my hips and roughly turned me around.

"Derek," I said annoyed. "I have to be at the theater at 5:45. Which means I have to get up at like 4:30 so I can get ready."

"Do I hear a point?" He leaned in to kiss me. If he's going to be like this every time he drinks, I'm never coming home with him afterwards again.

"Derek, I said no." I said as he ignored me and kissed me again.

"Fortunately you're not the one who gets to make those decisions." He whispered in my ear.

"Excuse me?"

"Ivy, quit being a bitch." He slapped me across the cheek and reached for the clasp on my dress. I stood there for a moment in disbelief, and pain. I couldn't believe he just did that.

"I'm going home and you need you sleep this off. Goodnight." I said as I picked up my bag and walked towards the door.

"Have another date?"

"No Derek, quit being an ass. I have to be at the theater in 7 hours."

"Then stay here."

"I'll see you tomorrow." I closed the door to his room and headed to the staircase

"Fine, I'll just call Karen over here." He yelled from behind the door.

"You wouldn't." I said opening the door to his room.

"Wouldn't I though?"

"You win." I muttered looking down.

"Don't I always?"

"You don't win fair but you win." I said looking up at him. Just then Derek leaned me back onto the wall and kissed me. I reluctantly slid my arms around his neck and responded.

* * *

The next morning when I woke up Derek's arms were still firmly around me. I roughly got myself out of his grasp, really not giving a shit whether I woke him up or not. I grabbed my bag and went into the bathroom and took a shower and got ready to go to the theater. I looked at my cheek in the mirror and there was a bruise there from where he hit me. I loaded up on concealer and bronzer and covered it up. Halfway through doing my make-up Derek came in and put his arms around my waist, nearly causing me to miss my eyelash with the mascara.

"Good morning love." I didn't say anything. "What's wrong?" Did he really not remember anything? I mean I knew he was totally wasted but really?

"I have to get to the theater." I finally responded to him and zipped up my make up bag and walked out picked up my overnight bag and walked out of his room and the condo.

* * *

We were doing a run through of the show. Derek had just shown up and we were already on _Second Hand White Baby Grand. _

"_Yes, I still have something beautiful to give…" _after singing the last bars I looked down before running offstage and into the dressing room.

"I got her." Derek said standing up from his chair.

"Let me try." Karen said.

"Well I can't imagine how you're going to make her feel any better but go on." She came into the dressing room.

"Ivy," She sat down next to me on the floor. "are you okay?"

"Come to watch me at my worst?" I asked wiping tears.

"No, I already saw that a few weeks ago, that night after heaven on earth." I really didn't want to talk to her, but she was my only choice.

"Derek was drunk last night." I looked down. "He wanted me to do some things and I said no, and he hit me." Karen's mouth came open

"Oh my god are you ok?"

"I'm fine. But then I told him I was leaving, and he said he was going to call you.

"You left then, right?" I didn't respond for a few moments and kept my head down.

"Well,"

"Ivy!"

"I wish I did. He was going to call you." I looked up at her "You would've done the same thing."

"No Ivy I wouldn't have. I would've left before he had the chance to say or do anything else. He probably would've passed out drunk." I shook my head. I love how she thinks she knows what Derek's like.

"Problem is Derek is the same drunk as he is sober. He would've called you." I said more reassuring myself then telling her.

"I wouldn't have come over." I looked over at her. "I wouldn't have." She shrugged.

"But if the roles were reversed,"

"Which they aren't" She cut me off.

"But if they were, you would. You wouldn't risk anything getting in the way of this part." She didn't say anything; she knew she agreed with me. "Why are you being nice to me? I've been a complete bitch to you since, well since casting."

"You can be really nice when you want to, to people you want to be nice to. You're like the popular friend I never had. And I hate being mean."

"You are so naïve." I laughed. "I guess that's what makes you as nice as you are."

"So are we like friends now?" She asked.

"I guess we are." I smiled, wiping the stray tears from my cheek. Karen's eyes doubled in size as she looked at me. "What?" I got up and looked in the mirror. The makeup that was covering my discolored cheek was gone.

"Hey, Ivy, can we have you onstage for Julia looked up and hesitated. "What happened to your cheek?" Julia rushed over to me. I panicked for a split second.

"Oh, nothing, I just fell down the steps last night after we went out. My heel slid off of one of the steps and I went down." I said and looked over to Karen who rolled her eyes and went over to her chair to prevent herself from saying anything.

"Alright. We're going to run Wolf again."

"Okay, I'll be out in two minutes." I faked a smile. As soon as she walked out I redid the makeup over the bruise and put on my costume for Wolf.

"Why didn't you tell her?"

"I don't have time to talk about this." I said zipping up the dress. I walked out.

"Ivy," I heard the voice but kept going. "Ivy what is going on with you?"

"I don't have time Derek, I have to rehearse Wolf."

"I'm the director if I'm talking to you it doesn't matter." I kept walking. "Ivy!" he roughly grabbed my arms and pulled me into him. "What is the matter with you?" I looked over hoping no one was seeing this. Karen was standing off to my left. Derek saw that I was no longer looking right up at him and followed my eyes. "We'll talk tonight." He whispered in my ear and let go of my arms. I looked over at Karen. I opened my mouth to say something and the music started playing. I turned around and waited for my cue.

**A/N: Thanks for sitting through that... Please review so I know who likes it and who hates it. **


	2. My Same

I sat down at my mirror after the show. The performance was flawless, or so I'd been told. My head was definitely not where it should have been though. The entire performance all I could think about was Derek.

As I started cleaning off my stage makeup, Karen showed up behind me.

"We never really got a chance to talk." She said pulling over a chair and taking a seat. Bobbi and Jessica looked over at us weird because they hadn't been informed of our sudden friendship.

"I know, and I'd prefer not to while they're other people around." I said quietly without taking my eyes off the mirror.

"When we walk out?" She asked, not really giving me a choice. I agreed since I was really in no rush to go see Derek.

"Sure, I just need like 5 minutes." I said, my eyes finally meeting her's. Karen nodded and went back over to her mirror getting her things together.

After taking off the stage makeup, I put on my "street makeup". Reluctantly, I stood up and joined Karen as she led the way out of the dressing room.

"Are you really going over to his place?" She asked.

"I don't think he was really giving me a choice, but I don't really want to." I said as we slowly walked out to meet Derek and Dev.

"I thought you said he only hit you because he was drunk…" She said, her voice hinting something that resembled disappointment.

"To be fair he didn't hit me again." I said in defense to Derek. Again Karen gave me the disappointed mother glare.

"Okay fine, I thought he was only being _rough_ with you because he was drunk."

"I did too." I sighed. We both stopped.

"You sure you don't want to crash at my place?" She suggested.

"Thanks, but I have my own apartment, remember?" I smiled.

"Which Derek has his own key to." She pointed out.

"Oh shit. I forgot about that." I paused. "I'm sure it'll be fine. If I need anything I'll call or text you."

"Okay." She looked around. "There's Dev. Promise you'll call if something is wrong?"

"Yes, mom. Go with you're boyfriend." I smiled, and she rolled her eyes and headed towards Dev. A few yards behind him stood Derek. I leaned on the wall watching them.

"Since when are you and Iowa friends?" Bobbi asked coming up from me with Jessica.

"Long-ish story."

"We're going out for drinks wanna come?" Jessica spoke up.

"Can't. I'm going over to Derek's."

"Ugh. Can't you leave captain killjoy alone for one night?" Bobbi spoke up again. I shook my head.

"Have fun you guys."

"Yeah, you too." Bobbi said as the two of them walked off.

"You finally ready to go?" Derek asked as he crossed the empty theater lobby over to me. He took my hand into his.

"Yeah." I faked a smile up at him, but he turned straight to negative as we walked to the door of the theater.

"You're transition into Wolf was sloppy, and you missed were a note to high at one point during Second Hand."

"Okay. I'll work on them tomorrow."

"Good. And about earlier, don't pull that shit with me Ivy."

"I wasn't meaning too, I was about to start the number, and I didn't want to hold up rehearsals, I was so far behind."

"Bullshit." He dropped my hand and kept walking. "You were just trying to get attention, as usual."

"So I was trying to gain attention by ignoring you and trying to do my job? Yeah, that makes loads of sense." I said with attitude.

"Yep, you had to make a scene backstage and of course so conveniently someone was watching, and she gave you her attention up until she met her fiancé."

"Derek, We're barely friends right now, and she found me after I ran off stage. I didn't exactly force her to listen to a fake sob story. She actually cared."

"Just shut up." He rolled his eyes. "Attention whore." He muttered under his breath but purposely loud enough for me to hear.

"Asshole." I sped walked off in front of him. He stopped moving.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked.

"Home." I said without turning to face him. I didn't look back to see whether or not he was following me.

* * *

I stepped into my apartment and laid my bags down on the couch. I didn't feel like putting them anything away at the moment. It wasn't the worst thing Derek ever said to me, or called me, but it did hurt, and it was a chance to get away from him. So I took it.

I stepped out of my steamy shower I heard my door shut. I didn't hear it get kicked down or broken into so that leaves four people that could currently be inside my apartment: my mother, Sam, Tom, and Derek. There's no chance in hell that my mother is here just to see me. Sam and Tom are most likely together, that leaves Derek. Shit, I didn't have clothes in the bathroom with me. All I have is my robe. I slid on the silky blue robe and dried my hair with my towel before fishtailing it off to the side. I hung up my towel and took a breath before walking out of the bathroom.

"You look kinda shitty." Yep, it's Derek. I didn't put any makeup on. He'd never seen me without it. I deemed it unnecessary since I was planning on spending the rest of the night in my apartment.

"Well thanks Derek, you sure know how to make a girl feel all warm inside."

"Nice quote." He said referring to the line I'd just recited from _Gentlemen Prefer Blondes_. "Except you're Marilyn, not Jane Russell."

"Good." I said yawning.

"Tired?"

"Exhausted. And apparently I have to go to the theater early so I can go over the transition into Wolf and my voice control on Second Hand." I said tiredly. "So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get ready for bed. If you wanna leave you certainly may." I said turning around, hoping that he took the hint and would leave. Of course he didn't, that would be too helpful of him. He came in just as I slid my t-shirt over my head and turned around. I walked past him went to turn off the lights in the kitchen. I did and came back in and laid down under the sheets.

"You're really going to bed?" He asked skeptically.

"Yes Derek. Some people actually need sleep to function. I can't just live off of coffee." I said with my eyes shut.

"I'm pretty sure that if necessary you could." He laughed, and I said nothing. "Ivy let's do go do something."

"Derek it's almost midnight. I'm going to sleep." I said lifelessly.

"Ivy come on," He slid down next to me.

"If you aren't leaving I will…" I suggested.

"Yeah, sure." He put his arms around me. I still hadn't opened my eyes.

"I'm dead serious Derek."

"You always say that." He said not believing me.

"You're a pain in the ass." I said standing up throwing a pair of sweatpants on.

"What are you doing Ivy?" He asked.

"I told you. I'm leaving. I want to sleep."

"And where are you going to go?"

"I'm going to Tom's. I can sleep on his couch."

"You sleeping with him now?" he asked dryly.

"Did you really just ask me that?" I said pulling my blue hoodie over my head. "Derek he's gay."

"I doubt that would stop you."

"Stop calling me a whore!" I yelled at him.

"I never did."

"Inadvertently you did." I reached for my keys. "You've become better at cutting me down then I am. Do you know how fucking hard that is!"

"Ivy calm down." He rolled his eyes.

"Have fun sleeping here." I picked up my purse on my way out of my room and slammed the door. I locked it behind me because I knew Derek wouldn't be smart enough to.

* * *

I knocked on Tom's door. I don't know what I was thinking. It's got to be midnight by now. He's most likely asleep. I wiped my eyes. I don't even know at what point I started crying. My thoughts were interrupted by Tom opening the door.

"Ivy?" He rubbed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I sleep on your couch?" I asked in a voice so broken it was nearly a whisper.

"Sure, but what's up?" We both went in and took a seat.

"Derek's just being… Derek."

"You wanna wait 'till tomorrow to talk about it?"

"Yes please." He stood up and kissed my forehead. "Goodnight Ivy."

" 'night Tom." I said leaning over to the other couch and grabbing the throw blanket and curling up in it and eventually falling asleep.


	3. Tired

"Morning Iv." Sam said as my eyes fluttered open.

'"Hey Sam." I rolled over trying to close my eyes again. "Sam!" I sat up. "What are you doing here?" I redid my ponytail since half my hair had fallen out while I slept.

"I came over to see Tom before the show. Better question, what are you doing here?"

"I slept here."

"Why?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, what happened last night Iv?" Tom asked as he sat next to Sam. _'Shit I hadn't thought about this. Only Iowa knows. What am I supposed to tell Tom?' _

"I, Derek came in last night after the show. He didn't let me sleep so I came here."

"What do you mean he didn't let you sleep?" Tom asked. "Ivy he didn't do anything did he?" He asked more demanding. Leave it to Tom to be the worried father.

"No Tom, he didn't do anything." I reassured. "I just figured if I have to be at the theater even earlier today I should probably get some sleep." I rolled my eyes.

"Why do you have to be there early?" Sam asked.

"According to Derek, my transition into Wolf is sloppy and I need to work on my voice control during Second hand." They both looked at me confused.

"You were perfect last night Iv." Sam said, still looking confused.

"Well _King Derek_ certainly didn't think so." I shrugged

"Are you sure everything's okay?" Tom asked. "Usually you would've just made some butt-kissing comment to defend Derek."

"Tom, I'm totally fine, just a little tired still."

"I'm just happy there's no matinee today." Sam offered up, trying to change the topic, he noticed that I really didn't want to talk about it. Tom went into the kitchen.

"Speaking of which what time is it?" I asked rubbing my eyes.

"A little after noon." Tom said coming in the room with the pitcher of tea and three glasses. I looked over noticing the TV was on. Sam was watching the Rangers vs. Avalanche game.

"NO NO NO" Sam yelled as he watched the Avalanche score, talking a two nothing lead. "This game is over."

"There's still a inning and a half Sam." Tom said sitting down next to Sam. "That's enough time for two goals." Sam and I looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

"Hockey is in periods Tom." I said still laughing lightly.

"Hey, he's trying." Sam defended, a little more serious then I.

"Who's number 92 on Colorado's team?"

"Gabriel Landeskog, he just scored." I said, smiling, with out missing a beat.

"He's hot." I shot a death glare over at Tom.

"You better watch out Tom; Ivy's had dibs on Landy since he was drafted." Sam warned.

"You can have Sean Avery." I said annoyed

"Here we go." Sam rolled his eyes.

"He is so annoying. His entire team and coaching staff hate him."

"They do not. " He defended.

"You are completely biased because your favorite team is the Rangers."

"And yours is?"

"Either Avalanche or Penguins."

"Oh-my-Puck-slut" Sam said.

"TAKE THAT BACK!" I yelled.

"Nope." He chuckled to himself.

"Come on! Tom just said that a player was hot not even knowing who he was, and I'm the puck slut?" I demanded.

"Okay, the second puck slut in the room."

"What the hell is a puck slut?" Tom asked.

"Tom, a puck slut is when you are obsessed with a player, or team, or really just the game of hockey because you think that hockey players are hot." I responded.

"So for football what are they called."

"Well football has it's own special group, they're called cheerleaders."

"Speaking of football," Sam spoke up. "Iv, who do you think wins the super bowl this year?" He asked.

"Ooh… umm…. Packers."

"Okay this is literally gibberish to me." Tom shrugged.

"Sorry." Sam shrugged. I pulled my phone out of my bag. _1:00 _

"Shit, I have to get going."

"Have fun with Captain Killjoy..." Sam said.

"That's what Jessica and Bobbi called him." I said standing up and folding the blanket.

"That's what you get for dating the director, and also leaving the ensemble." Sam retorted.

"Very funny." I smiled over at him. "I have to go get ready" I said heading for the door.

"Bye puck slut" Sam laughed after me.

"Bye ice girl." I replied smiling and closing the door.

"Now what the hell is an 'ice girl?'" Tom asked Sam.

"It's basically a cheerleader but on ice. And they don't do flips and stuff."

I prepared to walk into my apartment. I turned the key and walked in to find Derek going through my fridge.

"You realize you have absolutely no food here right?" he asked.

"I'm aware."

"Why the hell did Karen call this morning and ask if you were okay?" He asked me.

"She was worried when we left last night.'

"What did you tell her?"

"Derek, we already went over this."

"Well after she saw you manhandle me yesterday before the show, she asked what was up?" I lied. She did ask after, but I mainly told her before hand.

"I did not manhandle you."

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes and started walking towards my room.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"To get changed, since I have to be at the theater early." I replied annoyed.

"Don't sass me, it's not my fault you sucked last night." He closed my fridge and walked over to my couch.

"Tom and Sam said I was good." I rolled my eyes.

"Tom and Sam aren't you director." He said standing in my doorway watching me go through my closet trying to find something to wear while I stood there in my bra. He came over by me, taking one look in my closet and pulling out a little black dress.

"Derek, I'm going to the theater, not the Tonys." I said as I continued to look into my closet.

"How about dinner afterwards. Since neither of us have any food in our houses."

"Okay." I smiled. I couldn't seem to figure Derek out. I the last two days he'd been a total ass hole, but he was being decent if not nice now.


	4. You and Me

I walked back into the dressing room after changing into the black, body hugging, dress that Derek had picked out for me earlier today. Derek had yet to make a comment on my performance. Granted the show was barely even over, but if he felt strongly enough that I'd done awfully, he'd be waiting right there offstage. I'd come back to the dressing room right after curtain call and began getting ready. I removed the heavy stage makeup and began applying my normal street makeup, which was much lighter. Or maybe it just felt lighter because there wasn't an overly bright spotlight aimed at my face.

"Hey Iv, you almost ready for stage door?" The familiar voice of my costar Michael filled the room. '_Crap_!' I'd forgotten all about stage door. It's not that I don't love going out to greet the fans of the show who'd stuck around to meet us, it was one of the most gratifying parts of my job; I am, however, a little overdressed.

"Uh, yeah give me one second." I said finishing up and sitting my mascara back onto the vanity. I gave myself one final glance-over before grabbing my purse and joining Michael as we walked outside. We were greeted with the flashes of cameras, camera's of paying audience, the few paparazzi that had actually care to come had come on opening night only to see Karen choke. Michael and I started at different ends of the line. There was actually a freakishly large crowd out tonight.

Michael and I went around the crowd, signing playbills, some people even brought pictures of Marilyn and Joe to be signed by us. As I was going through the last few people Derek came out and stood next to me following behind me like a puppy.

"You almost ready?" He asked.

"Yeah give me like 10 minutes." I smiled back at him.

When I finished signing the last of the playbills I went over and hugged Michael and then walked off with Derek.

"Why do you and Michael always hug after shows."

"I don't really know. We did it the first few times just because we were really excited and proud of each other and now it's like a ritual." I said going through my purse to find my phone.

"It's weird." He said watching me get onto my text messages. I didn't have many. There was Jessica asking if I wanted to go out for drinks tonight, she'd just broken up with her boyfriend and has gotten totally wasted every night since it happened which has been almost two weeks now. I was actually starting to be a little scared by it. I mean it's not like I've never done that, but that's just it. Jessica isn't me. She's not 'crazy' like I am. She's a good girl.

Then there was an email from my mother with an attachment that I was too uninterested in to even open it, and text from Sam asking what I was doing on Sunday night. Since we didn't have shows on Sundays. Sam, Jessica, Bobby, and I usually went to hang out. I started texting back:

_Wanna come over around 5:45 and we can do pre-dinner drinks? _I sent the text and put my phone back in my purse.

Derek wrapped his hand around the small of my back as we entered the restaurant. I quietly looked around the restaurant while Derek spoke to the hostess. I'd never been into this restaurant with Derek. It was huge and rectangular. I looked around the restaurant it was about fifteen tables long and about seven tables. The light was dimmed. My observation was cut short by Derek guiding me around the room. We followed the hostess down the aisle of booths. Derek and I took our seats and ordered our drinks.

"You're bruise went away." He said looking over at me. I really wish he hadn't even brought it up.

"Nope." I looked down. "You'd be amazed at what makeup can hide." I added somewhat sassily.

"No need to be bitchy about it." he shrugged. "Who all knows about it?" He asked.

"Just Karen. Although Julia did walk in on me when I didn't have any makeup on the other day." He glared over at me. "Relax, I made up some bullshit story about me falling down the steps while I was on my phone or something."

* * *

I sat at the table by myself. Frank had just excused himself to the rest room. We hadn't gone out with just ourselves for weeks. I was playing with my curly red hair and picking at my salad when I began eavesdropping on the booth behind us.

'_Your bruise went away'_ a familiar male voice said. Isn't that Derek?

'_Nope. You'd be amazed at what makeup can hide.' _Yep, it was Derek because there's Ivy. Why'd she get so upset about it? She fell down the steps. Can't say I'm surprised… Ivy's not the most graceful person in the world.

'_No need to be bitchy about it.' _ Okay Derek, you're cool…. Asshole. Frank sat back down and I put my finger up to my lip signaling for him to be absolutely silent, which thankfully he obeyed. '_Who all knows about it?'_

'_Just Karen. Although Julia'_ I sat up straighter at the mention of my name. '_did walk in on me while I had no makeup on the other day. Relax I made up some bullshit story about me falling down the steps while I was on my phone or something.'_ What the hell? What is going on between the two of them?

* * *

"Did she buy it?" He asked me.

"Of course she bought it. Julia and Tom trust me." I said.

"Are you sure-"

"Can we just drop the subject?" I said annoyed looking away. I really wish he'd just let it go. Or better yet stop being an ass.

* * *

Frank and I had already paid, and I was debating whether or not we should leave before them. I didn't want to, but Frank reminded me that we had to go get Leo from one of his friends houses. So reluctantly I stood up. Frank being the genius he is decided that he would start walking so that we would pass their booth.

"Hey Julia, Frank." Derek said and I froze and looked behind me. Julia and Frank had been sitting in the booth behind us the entire time. Did they hear our conversation? No probably not. I wasn't very loud, but still our backs were to each other so I wouldn't have to be very loud for her to eavesdrop, which she does on a regular basis.

"Hey Derek, Ivy." Frank said walking over towards Derek. They began talking to each other. I looked over at Julia, and she was glaring over at me.


	5. Let's Be Bad

All I could think about the entire rest of dinner was that Julia definitely knew about Derek. After Derek paid, we went back to his place. I pretty much did anything and everything he asked of me that night because I didn't need any more marks to explain to Julia, or Karen.

* * *

I walked into the theater lazily and tired from the previous night. The show, and my boyfriend were wearing me out. I'd been ignoring calls from Julia all day, which, since it was a matinee day, was only since about 9:45. At one point I actually took the battery out of my phone and left it like that for until I left my apartment. I was tempted to leave it like at home, but I knew the one time I did that there'd be some huge emergency that I'd totally miss. Even though I usually didn't perform at the matinee, I had to be there incase something happened.

I walked into my dressing room as I deleted Julia's voicemails from my phone. I looked up to put my purse down on the vanity and saw Julia and Tom both sitting there. I jumped upon seeing them, picked up my purse and turned around out of the room.

"Ivy we need to talk." Tom said following me.

"Don't know what you're talking about and even if I did, I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone right now." I kept on walking. I didn't know where I was going to, but I'd walk laps around this place if it meant not having to deal with them right now.

"Ivy this isn't up for discussion," Julia said catching up with me.

"Good. I'm glad. Now if you'll excuse me." I kept going looking for any way out of this.

"Ivy, would you listen?"

"I'm not Leo you can't tell me what to do Julia." I rolled my eyes putting my phone back into the purse, picking up speed.

"Ivy, this isn't funny. We—" Tom started

"Derek." I smiled seeing him and went over to him as fast as my 3-inch heels would allow.

'Just let her go" Julia said "We'll catch her later."

"I'd rather just kick his ass now." Tom said glaring over at Ivy and Derek.

"Trust me I would like nothing more then to kick his ass, but we should actually talk to Ivy first." She paused. They both watched as Derek pulled Ivy in for a kiss. Ivy was smiling. "Wanna go grab some starbucks before the matinee?"

"Sure." He said watching Ivy and Derek for a while until they went into a different room. Julia wrapped her arms around his and walked out with him.

"Hey." I smiled up at him. He looked agitated. "What's up?"

"Nothing."He leaned down and kissed me. I smiled and put my head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Hey Derek can I talk to you?" I looked over and Julia and Tom were still standing there. I took his hand into mine and walked into one of the offices.  
I walked in a little further as Derek closed the door.  
"What?" He asked walking over to me.  
"Julia caught on... She told Tom."  
"You little bitch." He said walking over to me. I mimicked his movements walking backwards until I hit the wall.  
"Derek I swear to God I didn't tell her." I didn't even see Derek's hand come up, but I couldn't get my hand up to shield my face quick enough before his hand met my face.  
"I thought I told you not to tell anyone." He grabbed my arms and pinned them down at the wall, I refused to look up at him.

"I didn't. She found out last night when you wouldn't drop the subject."

"Bullshit." He threw me onto the ground and walked out of the room. I pushed myself up so that I was sitting up, and used the desk to my left to help myself up. I walked myself back to my dressing room. No one else was here and I was getting bored and upset quickly so I got my purse and walked out of the room.

* * *

I walked out of the theater looking at my phone. I took about four steps out the door and was trying to find something in my purse when I accidently ran into someone. I'd dropped both my phone and my purse. He had dropped his phone.

"Sorry," the man said. We both bent down to pick up what we had dropped. He must've been around my age. He had dark brown eyes and black hair. He was skinny but built. He was a solid two inches taller than me with my heels on. And he, damnit!, he was wearing a RENT shirt so was probably gay, but I was still totally mesmerized by him.

"No that was totally my fault, I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going." I stood up and put my phone back into my purse. He picked up his phone and ended the call. We both just stood there and didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"I was on my way to starbucks, you want to come with me?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yeah definitely." I smiled, and we started to walk down the street together.

"I'm Joe by the way." He smiled over at me.

"Ivy."

"Are you an actress?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" I was excited that I actually could call myself an actress now as opposed to just being a part of the ensemble.

"Lucky guess, and I just ran into you outside a theater."

"Oh." I laughed slightly. "What about you."

"I'm an actor too. I'm playing Mark in the revival of RENT." He smiled.

"Oh fun. I'm playing Marilyn Monroe in Bombshell." I smiled.

"You look like Marilyn."

"Thank you."

When we got to starbucks we talked about our shows and exchanged numbers. He was really sweet and single, which made me really happy.

"I have to go, we have a matinee today." He said. "I'll call you later."

"Yeah definitely."

* * *

When I walked back into the theater I went straight to my dressing room. I was in a much better mood and walked to my dressing room, stopping to talk to Jessica, but then going straight back to my dressing room. I walked into my dressing room smiling and saw Tom and Julia waiting for me once again.

"Hey guys." I said, my happy persona never faltering.

"Someone is in a considerably better mood." Tom said watching me as I sat down.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Maybe the fact that you're boyfriend takes everything out on you and is abusive, just a thought." Julia said in her upset mother tone.

"Okay once again, I'm not your son, so don't talk down to me."

"I may not be your biological mother but I've sure as hell done a lot more for you then your real mother ever has."

"Julia…"

"And not to mention the fact that Tom's basically been your father figure since you moved out here. You don't even know your real father."

"Not true, I met him once." I looked down. "Can we just drop it? I was in a much better mood before you brought me back to reality."

"Why are you so happy?" Tom said, actually sounding interested.

"I met a guy, a nice, gorgeous, single, guy who is staring in RENT right now."

"Roger?" Tom asked

"Mark." I countered. No one likes Roger.

"How do you think Derek's going to react when he knows you're cheating on him? He already beats the shit out of you." Julia asked, going back to that damn motherly tone.

"He does not. You're overreacting. Yes he hit me and is occasionally rough, but it's not like he just beats me to a pulp every time he sees me."

"I don't like it." Julia sighed.

"I have to agree with Julia on this one Iv. Derek isn't going to cotton to well on being cheated on."

"I haven't done anything… yet."

**A/N: So the Face Claim for Joe is Steve Kazee because Megan and Steve were such a cute couple before they broke up.**

**Review?**


	6. What You Own

After the show Derek came into my dressing room, obviously still upset with me. He grabbed my bag, anything to make me move quicker.

"Derek, Michael and I still have stage door."

"You don't need to do it tonight." His tone not giving me any room to argue.

"Okay." I finished up what I was doing and got up to follow Derek out. "I think I'm just going to go home tonight."

"Fine," He said, giving me my bag and walking out. He was obviously still pissed at me for this morning. I watched as he left the room.

"Hey Iv." Jessica said and suddenly she and Bobby were surrounding me.

"Are you and the boss doing anything tonight?" Jessica asked as she leaned up against my vanity and pulling her phone out.

"No. I told him I was going home. Why? What are you guys doing?"

"We're going out to the bar. You want to come?"

"Uh yeah, just let me call-"

"You're not calling Derek." Bobby said grabbing my phone from my hand. "The whole point of going out was to get you with out him."

"I wasn't going to call Derek thank you."

"Who? Tom and Sam are already coming."

"If Tom can come why can't Derek?" I asked. I wasn't going to invite him anyway, but I just wanted to know.

"Because when you're around Derek you're…" Jessica started, but Bobby finished.

"Totally different, you don't have any fun, you do everything he wants."

"Okay, I get it."

"I don't get why you stay with him. He's such an asshole, even to you." Jessica said still looking down at her phone.

'_You don't even know the half of it.'_ I thought to myself.

"Who are you gonna ask then?" Jessica said finally looking up from her phone.

"No one."

"Iv…" Jessica pried even more.

"I met this guy today. He's totally sweet and we traded numbers, but it's a little soon to call him. We met not even 12 hours ago."

"He cute?" Bobby asked.

"Gorgeous, single, and on Broadway."

"Is he on my team or yours sweetie?" Bobby asked.

"I couldn't tell."

"What's he in and does he have a lead?"

"He's in RENT, and-"

"Oh god, don't tell me he plays Anglel… or Collins."

"No, Mark."

"I can see how you could be borderline." Jessica thought. "Hair?"

"Black, short."

"Eyes?" Bobby joined in.

"Dark Brown."

"Tall or short?" Jessica took over again.

"I was wearing these heels and he was still like two or three inches taller then me."

"Body?" Jessica raced before Bobby could beat her to it.

"Skinny but still strong looking."

"I'm totally on the fence about this one." Jessica said.

"Me to." Bobby joined. "But I'm thinking if he's more of a Mark then he's probably straight.

"What are you gonna do about Derek?" Jessica asked standing up and we walked out the door.

"I don't even know if it's worth telling him. I mean all we did was run into each other, literally, get coffee, talk, and trade numbers. It's not like I'm sleeping with him."

"Yet…" Jessica said smiling over at me.

"Operative word." Bobby said from my other side.

* * *

Jessica, Bobby and I walked in and found that Tom and Sam were already there.

"Hey Tom."

"Where's you're boyfriend?" Tom asked me.

"Is it really so surprising that I went somewhere with out Derek?" I asked shaking my head.

"Actually yes." Sam butt in.

"My god, we're not married, we don't spend every second together." I said realizing how untruthful that was as the conversation went on.

"You're right, you're not married. You're conjoined at the hip."

"Very funny Jessica."

* * *

I woke up the next morning with the worst hangover I'd had in months, luckily it was an off day. I went through my phone, ignoring the fact that the more I looked at the screen the more my head hurt. All of a sudden my phone started vibrating and my ringtone, diamonds are a girls best friend started playing. Shit. It was Derek. He thinks I went straight home last night. I pressed the green phone symbol and lifted the phone to my ears.

"Hey Derek." I said, trying to sound as normal as I possibly could.

"Hey I need you to come over to the theater today, we're working in a new Joe because Michael got a pilot and he has to leave in a few weeks."

"Alright. When do you need me to be there?"

"Now. Bye." He said sharply and hung up before I had the opportunity to say anything else.

"Okay then." I tossed my phone onto the couch and got ready to go to the theater. I tried to make myself look as best I could, but I was still feeling like shit. I grabbed my phone purse and keys and walked out of my apartment, locked it, and walked out into the New York City streets.

"Ivy, what took you so long!" Demanded a very irritated Derek from onstage.

"I'm sorry I didn't exactly get a warning that I would need to be here at noon so I wasn't ready to walk out the door when you needed me." I said walking towards the stage. I got up and looked around seeing no one else. "Where's the new Joe?" I asked grabbing a chair from backstage and sitting down. I turned away from the bright stage lights that were worsening my headache. I grabbed my phone from my purse and started to look through any new reviews we'd gotten, which was an awful habit because even though I, and the rest of the cast and crew, got great reviews I could always find something in there that makes me think less of myself.

"What'd you do last night?" Derek asked trying to dispose of the awkward silence.

"I went home and slept. It was glorious." I said quickly, still looking down at my phone.

"I doubt it. You still look exhausted."

"Probably because normally on my day off I'm sleeping all day or been lazy around your place, not coming in to do more work."

"Or because you went partying with Jessica because she put like 10 pictures of you, Tom, Sam and Bobby up on Facebook." He said tossing me his phone.

'_Shit' _I thought. I saw him walking over to me and I jumped up and started going backwards. Both our heads turned when the theatre door opened.

"Mr. Wills?" I knew that voice.

"Yeah Joe come on in." I tried not to show my excitement when I saw that Joe, the guy I ran into slash was crushing on the other day, was the new replacement for Michael. He smiled over at me.

"Hi, It's nice to-" He began, but I quickly cut him off before he said anything to me.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Ivy." I said trying not to hide the fear that he would say something and Derek would lose it.

"I'm Joe?" He said confusedly, taking the script from his bag.

"Alright so let's work backwards and start with the breakup scene." Derek said and Joe quickly turned to the page.

"Ivy would you start from '_I'm not a Joke'" _Derek asked standing next to us.

"Sure." I started.

* * *

About an hour later, a very agitated Derek called for break. I don't know why he's so upset because Joe was fantastic. I walked over to Joe, but before either of us could say anything Derek interrupted.

"Hey Ivy will you come look at Marilyn's costumes for a minute."

"Um actually I was going to-" I started softly.

"It wasn't a question." Derek snapped, heading backstage and going towards my dressing room. I faked a smile over at Joe and started walking back to my dressing room.

I walked in and didn't see anyone at first and I didn't until after I heard the door close quietly behind me and click as it locked.

"Derek…" I started as I turned around and spun into the vanity. I ignored the pain in my thigh and looked up at him. He looked pissed. "What'd I do now?" I asked. He walked over to me and combed a hand through my hair and I pulled my head away so that my hair fell free of his grasp.

"I can't even touch my girlfriend now?" He asked, his smartass tone never faltering. I looked away from him until he grabbed me by the hair and forced me to look up at him.

"Derek!" I tried grabbing my hair, which actually made it hurt more then it did when it was just him.

"Who'd you sleep with last night?" He said basically pushing me to the side onto the vanity.

"No one." I said fearfully. I was greeted with a fist to the stomach, with his hands still having a firm grip in my hair.

"Don't lie to me you dumb bitch."

"I'm not!" I squirmed and yelled, thank god the room was sound proof. "Derek I swear to god I went home by myself last night." He obviously didn't think I was telling the truth still because moments later another blow was delivered to my midsection and he pulled on my hair harder forcing me to look into his eyes.

"Bullshit." He said looking down at me. "If I catch you sleeping around again, then I won't be so nice next time." Derek forcefully released my hair and walked out of the room.

I stayed up on the vanity for a few moments before looking at myself in the vanity. I wiped just under my eyes and stood there for a moment before returning back out onstage.


	7. Second Hand White Baby Grand

I walked out from backstage to find Joe alone center stage.

"Where'd Derek go?" I asked sitting back in the chair I'd pulled out.

"He left. He said that we were done."

"And you're still here?" I said grabbing my purse from its spot next to the chair.

"Yeah. I was wondering if you would stay and work on '_Mr. and Mrs. Smith_' with me. Derek seemed a little upset with me today and I just really don't want to get fired before I even start."

"I doubt you'll have to worry about that, but sure." I paused and looked around the stage. "Hold on." I walked downstage and out into the wings to grab another chair for Joe. I put the two together to make a bench like the one we used on stage. "There."

We walked over to the chairs. I paused a moment so that we could get situated then began: "_call the justice of the_ _peace but don't tell him our names don't put out a press release or mention_  
_baseball games_"  
"_book the nearest bridal suite one room will suit us fine for the desk clerk that we meet the only autograph we'll sign is..._" He sang and I fell in love with his voice all over again.  
"_Mr. and Mrs. Smith, merely the folks next door_."...  
_"__Yes, I'd gladly disappear, If it might guarantee a view of" _We both sang.  
_"No one but Mr," _  
_"No one but Mrs,"_  
_"Smith and You."_ We ended in perfect harmony. When we were done we both sat there looking into each other's eyes. I watched as he slowly started leaning in. '_Shit, Shit, Shit_. _I want to kiss him, but Derek will kill me if he finds out.' _I didn't have time to reach a decision of what to do before his lips met mine. I paused for a moment before responding to the kiss. Joe put his hand behind my neck as we kissed. I smiled into the kiss as he pulled away. We sat there for a minute not saying at each other. I looked up at him, and I found that we were both smiling.  
"You want to go?" I asked as he stood up looking at me.  
"Yeah definitely." He smiled and offered his hand. I took it and stood up and picked up my purse. Instead of letting go of my hand he intertwined his fingers with mine and we walked offstage and out of the empty theater.

I walked into my living room and pulled off my coat, hanging it over the edge of my worn out, but still useable, couch. Joe sat his on top of mine. I took off my heels and sat them next to the couch so that they were out of the way. My house was a mess. I'm at the theater for like ten hours a day, and then I spent a lot of time at Derek's a lot so I have a valid excuse for my mess.

I sat down on my couch and reached for my script, which I really didn't need, that was sitting on the coffee table. I looked over at Joe who was now sitting to my left.

"Where do you want to start?" I asked opening up my script to a random page.

"Well," He said smirking.

"I meant with the script. Where do you want to start with the script?" I asked smiling.

"I know what you meant." He smiled. "I just got a little… side-tracked. You can't really blame me."

"Oh I can't?" I asked sarcastically.

"Nope." He said smiling back at me.

"Noted." We both looked at each other for a few minutes. "We're not going to get anywhere with this script are we?" I asked tossing the book onto the coffee table.

"We could talk about ourselves." He suggested.

"Didn't we already do that at Starbucks?" I asked jokingly. I mean we did talk there but not enough that I would really know who he was.

"Kind of… Well, what are your parents like?" He asked, and the smile vanished from my face immediately.

"Oh well this is a fun topic. My mother is Leigh Conroy." I stopped and waited for his inner fangirl to come out.

"I saw her in Gypsy when I was little."

"Well she's the exact opposite of Mama Rose. She actually became a huge Broadway star, and she's doing everything she possibly can to deter me from doing the same. She's kind of an attention whore." I shrugged.

"Why is she trying to stop you?" He asked scooting closer.

"My dad, I'm assuming. I never knew him. My mom won't tell me who he was. She told me that he was some director that she worked with at some point during her career."

"That's not really a small list either is it?" Joe asked sighing.

"Nope." I shook my head in response. All I know otherwise is that he left her as soon as she found out she was pregnant with me." I looked out the window that was across from Joe. That was a habit of mine. I would look out the nearest window whenever I didn't want to look at the person I was talking to, usually because I was going to cry. Seconds after I turned my head I felt Joe's hand brush my cheek, he wiped the lone tear that somehow escaped from my eyes and placed his hands around the back of my neck. He is so cute. He is such a change from Derek. Joe's sweet, sarcastic, funny, everything that Derek isn't.

"Well whoever he was; it's his loss, a major one. And don't worry about your mom; she's trying to help. She just doesn't understand that when you're as talented as you are, you just cannot stay away from the theater." He reassured me.

"How do you know I'm talented? You've never heard me sing. I could suck." I asked him, trying to change the mood of the conversation.

"They don't let just anyone play Marilyn Monroe on Broadway." He said smiling. "Plus I've seen Bombshell twice already."

"You have?"

"Yeah. So I do know for a fact that you're super talented." I looked at him for a while.

"Okay fine. Your turn, what are your parents like?" I asked holding my head in my hand; leaning my elbow on the top of the couch.

"They're dead." He replied, and I froze. Wow now I feel like a complete bitch, complaining about my parents, parent (I don't consider my father a parent because he was never around), while he has none.

"Oh my god Joe I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. My grandparents raised me. They're pretty cool." I stayed quiet for a while after that. I didn't want to upset him anymore. "You know, most of the leading ladies I meet are total divas offstage too. You're different though."

"Well I-"

"Don't try to decline the compliment. You deserve it." He cut me off. I leaned in and kissed him. When I kissed him he didn't push me down and start undressing me; again unlike Derek, he just kissed me. I moved over as close as I could to him. Joe pulled away. He smiled at me and kissed down my neck. I smiled. When he got to my chest he looked up at me, asking to continue. I stood up taking his hand in mine and bringing him into my bedroom. I moved to open the door and his arms were around my waist. We walked into my room and I sat on the bed, and we picked up right where we left off. He moved my shirt up.

"What happened here?" He asked staring at my bruise on my stomach. Oh shit. I hadn't realized that I had gotten a bruise from when he hit me.

"Nothing, just ignore it." I said trying to kiss him, attempting leave it there, but he turned away from me. "I fell in the dressing room."

"How?" He asked obviously not believing me.

"I was running late getting ready for the second act. I was rushing and it fell onto a shoe. The heel hit me in the stomach."

"That's the worst excuse I've ever heard in my life." I had to agree. It was pretty pathetic. "You want to tell me what really happened?" He asked.

"Not particularly." I mumbled.

"Who did it?" He asked.

"It's not important. Can we just drop it please?" I watched as he leaned down and kissed the bruise.

"For now." He gave me pulled me right next to him and we laid next to each other for the next few moments. I rolled over so that I was facing Joe.

"I'm sorry. I just can't talk about this right now…"

"Hey it's fine." I smiled up at him and kissed him again.


	8. The Dance

I woke up about an hour later with my head resting on Joe's bare chest. His core was so tight, making it the perfect pillow. Joe had his arm wrapped protectively around my shoulder. I tried not to move so that I wouldn't wake him up. From within the silence, I heard a key being put into my front door. I froze. This couldn't be happening. I closed my eyes tightly; as if I closed them tight enough no one would see me. I silently pleaded that my mother or Tom were stopping by, instead of the other option.

"Ivy, what the hell are you doing?" A thick British accent filled the room as I heard the sound of his leather jacket landing on my vanity chair. I flinched, grasping onto the blanket that shielded my body from exposure. Upon feeling my movement Joe flew into a sitting position, still holding onto me tightly.

"Derek…" I began, but that was the only word I could muster. I couldn't form a word to save my life.

"What are you doing here?" Joe asked. Luckily one of us found our voice.

"I'm Ivy's boyfriend; I have a key to her apartment." Derek responded, obviously furious. I looked down avoided Derek's glare. "I think you should go." He said rudely. This was just the calm before the storm. Joe hesitated for a moment before letting go of me. I held the blanket up to me while I sat up against the headboard. He grabbed his jeans from the side of the bed, and put them on. Joe began walking towards the door.

"Joe," I said, finally looking up. He turned around to look at me. I opened my mouth to speak again, but then I saw Derek glaring at me, and I bowed my head again. He walked out.

As soon as I heard the door click shut, Derek began by crossing the room and smacking me across the cheek. I was shocked, and I slowly lifted my hand up to my pulsing cheek.

"I guess I kind of deserved that one…" I said, stalling his next move.

"What the fuck do you think you were doing?" He said in a voice that was less then a yell but stronger then his normal voice.

"Derek, I'm sorry." I said, genuinely scared for what he was going to do next.

"You're not sorry. If you were sorry you wouldn't have done anything with him in the first place." He said. I looked up into his eyes, and he looked like was ready to kill me. I looked down, anything to avoid that glare. "If I ever" He paused and forcefully grabbed my chin and pulled it roughly so that I was looking at him. "Look at me while I'm talking to you dammit!" He yelled. "If I ever find you in alone with him, outside of the show again, I will make you hurt so much worse then this time." He paused. "Do you understand?" I nodded. "Good." He threw me back by my chin. "Now the reason I actually came over here was to tell you that I have a party with some friends tonight, and I need you to come. And I need you to look hot." He said resting his hands on my hipbones underneath the blanket.

"Okay." I nodded. "Okay" I nodded, feeling slightly uncomfortable with his hands on my bare body. One of Derek's hands traveled down.  
"Derek, I need to get ready."  
"You can spare ten minutes can't you? You had time for Joe." He said making me feel guilty.  
"Fine." His hands traveled to the small of my back and pulled me closer to him. He kissed me, pulling at the blanket that I had covering myself. His kiss held none of the tenderness that Joe's did. Joe was soft and loving. Derek kissed me hard and immediately tried to undress me, well, uncover my already bare body. I think he could tell that I didn't really want to be there because after one more kiss he sat up next to me. Derek's been acting so hot and cold lately. One minute he'll be yelling at me or hitting me, and the next he's laying next to me having a civil conversation. It gets really confusing, and frustrating too.  
"Which dress are you going to wear?" He asked looking me.  
"Is there one that you want me to wear? "  
"I like the black one." He said smirking.  
"The black one in the back of my closet that's like a size and a half too small?"  
"It makes your boobs look good." He smiled.  
"And it makes my ass look huge." I retorted.  
"It makes you look sexy. Wear it." He said in a more demanding tone.  
"Fine. Any preference on how I do my hair?" I asked sarcastically.  
"Up, but leave a few strands down and curled."  
"Are you sure... If you wear a tight dress why would I do my hair tight"  
"Do a loose messy bun off to the side."  
"Yes sir." I said sarcastically. "Can you hand me my robe?" I asked pointing to his side where my blue satin robe was laying. "I need to get in the shower if I'm going to look even semi presentable."

"Nope." He smirked he picked up a corner of it and held it out away from him.

"You're being real helpful…" I said leaning over him to get the robe. The blanket fell down, and I quickly turned my back to him and slid the robe on.

"Oh come on darling. Nothing I haven't seen already." He sat up behind me, moved my hair off my shoulder and kissed the shoulder blade.

"Can you just wait till after dinner?" I laughed. I was still irritated with how Derek just completely switched moods, but I just went with whatever he said in order to avoid it happening again.  
"That implies that you'll let me do anything after dinner."  
"When have I not let you?" I said turning around into him smiling.  
"I can think of some. But I guess tonight will have to make up for it."  
"I guess it'll have to." I paused and crossed my arms across my chest. I stood and turned to face him. "I'm going to get in the shower. What time do you need me at your place?" I asked.

"I'll pick you up around six." He said moving in for one last kiss before he exited the room.

I stood completely still for the next few minutes replaying in my mind what had just happened. Derek just caught me in bed with another guy and barely even did anything about it. I walked into my bathroom and got ready to take a shower.


End file.
